West Ham centre-back James Collins' mistake helped send his side to a 3-0 defeat at Swansea last time they were on the road, while he also saw red for a reckless challenge on Wales duty against Belgium – so he feared the worst when he brought down Andrew Surman on the edge of the penalty area.

'It was a little heart in the mouth but I was pretty confident it was outside the area and fair play to the ref, he made a great decision,' added Collins, who rejoined West Ham from Aston Villa in the summer. 'We've seen it again and before making the decision he came and had a look at the slide marks, and in my opinion it was outside the box.

'I didn't think it was a sending off last Friday (for Wales) either, to be fair – I'll stand by that.

'This was one of those where the way things were going I thought anything could've happened, but I had to go in to block it because he was shooting and unfortunately I mistimed it.'

Collins also admitted he sighed in relief when Simeon Jackson was substituted.

Jackson had given the Hammers a difficult afternoon until Norwich boss Chris Hughton opted to save the striker's legs early after his international break with Canada.

'Yeah, he was lively,' said Collins. 'We watched videos on him and he's been playing out of his skin. He's quick and sharp, but we kept a high line and played him offside a couple of times, which was the plan.

'And I think we did play him reasonably well. He did get a couple of chances but any good centre forward is going to, so we we're happy to keep a clean sheet.'

Collins also paid tribute to United keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

'He did pull off some good saves. Late on, that one where they were through, he's played so many games I think he knew where the boy (Harry Kane) was putting it before the boy knew.'